So I'm working on a computer I haven't used in years, one that dates back to Aaron Heilman's rookie year. Back then, this computer seemed very promising. Now it's outdated and clunky and the only reason I'm using it is because until my usual computer is pronounced fit, it's all I've got.
Hit you over the head much? No more than the Jody Gerut did to Aaron Heilman. We won, so bygones can be bygones for a night, but ninth innings are obviously not Aaron's bag, baby. Until he becomes a free agent and signs with the Cardinals and Tony La Russa converts him to a starter (or a shortstop; it is La Russa), he's stuck in the bullpen with the rest of the well-meaning schlubs who couldn't close a jar of Taster's Choice, let alone a baseball game.
But I like Aaron. He gives me no reason to, but he seems not unlikable. Forlorn, actually, is what he seems. He struggled his first couple of years, was turned to amid desperate straits in early 2005 and threw a complete game one-hitter. There is not a single Mets starter in our pretty good rotation who has thrown a nine-inning one-hitter for us. Yet they're all still in the rotation. Aaron was asked to leave the rotation not two months after his one-hitter and was never invited back. He got pretty good at pitching a given inning, whether it was the seventh, the eighth or, on occasion in '05, the ninth. As with this computer (which I schlepped home as part of a severance package because I once read an article that said if you're laid off, demand your computer), I thought that was only the beginning, that this thing is going to keep unveiling marvels and wonders for us all to enjoy. Instead, Aaron, like this 2003 iMac, peaked quite a while ago. Now and then he gives it his all and it's a big, big help. Other times he gives it his all, and a four-run lead grows lonely quickly.
Aaron Heilman has been a Met pitcher longer on a consecutive basis than any other Met pitcher (Pedro Feliciano, up in 2002, never pitched for another big league team but he did wander outside the organization a couple of times). That puts Aaron in Jose/David territory as far as homegrown pitchers who never pitched anywhere else go. But that's about as far as that analogy will fly. Aaron Heilman, No. 1 draft status and all, has never been a golden boy on this team. He's never had a role that quite suited him. He may still produce wonders and marvels in his career, but it won't be as a Met.
But I have a consolation prize for him. I've been rereading one of my all-time favorite baseball books, Ballpark by Peter Richmond. It's about how Oriole Park at Camden Yards came to be, about what a unique idea it was, how all involved took great pains to create (not imitate) the retro ballpark style, why it replaced locally beloved Memorial Stadium. Columnist John Steadman wrote during the period when not every Baltimorean was sold on the Camden charm, “If it's being built to look old and rundown, we already have one of those.”
As the Memorial finale approached, it became a sentimental mission in Baltimore to have Mike Flanagan throw the final Oriole pitch. Flanagan, a 23-game winner for the A.L. champion Birds of '79, came up in 1975. He was the next in a long line of great Oriole pitching products. He lasted a dozen years before being traded to Toronto in a classic deadline deal in which a veteran is sent from a lousy team to a contending team. The Oriole Way by then, 1987, was just a memory. In 1991, at age 39, he came home to Baltimore to relieve and, by his own admission, maybe throw that ultimate Memorial Stadium pitch. On that Sunday afternoon, the fans clamored to have him come in from the bullpen and finish off an era. He did, and it was, Richmond recounts, beautiful.
When I reread that passage, it got me thinking about who should start the final game at Shea. I mean really should. If we leave out fantasy picks like Seaver and Gooden (who's only 43, y'know), I concluded, sadly, there's no obvious choice. None of our current starters has that kind of Met tenure that demands the ball. Yeah, I thought, Pedro, kind of, but…ah, not really. I'm more concerned that Pedro has a next start, not a last start. Santana, as much as we're relying on him for now and beyond, doesn't speak to Shea's history. Pelfrey is mildly appealing in this context as potentially the next righty flamethrower to dominate the National League, an extension (we hope) of the Tom & Doc lineage. It's not a great fit, but it would do by default. (And unless you're yearning for time to almost literally stand still on September 28, I don't think there's enough of an emotional connection to sign Steve Trachsel to a one-day contract.)
Tuesday night, however, it hit me. It hit me like Gerut hit Heilman. Let Aaron do it. Let Aaron have that final start at Shea Stadium. Let Aaron, who was a batterymate of Piazza, who was on the same staff as Leiter and Franco, who was drafted by the defending National League champions, who threw a complete game one-hitter, take the ball. Let Aaron Heilman have one final moment he can enjoy at Shea Stadium. Aaron's sucked up a lot of thankless innings (and, yes, given up a lot of long home runs), but he's likable enough. Give him the ball.
Besides, if we're gonna rely on him to close anymore this season, it's not like that final game is going to have implications beyond the sentimental.
Are you saying that Aaron Heilman is our Charlie Brown?
Hi Greg,
I've been tinkering with the idea of having Aaron be the fourth or fitth starter for a while and have Pedro move to the bullpen as temporary closer until Maine and Wagner return. Aaron only seems to give up one three-run homer a game so if he goes six and allows three, it's decent. And Pedro would have the veteran composure to save nail-biters in the ninth.
Of course that leaves us one starter short in the rotation but I'm sure that spot can be resolved for a few starts if Maine does come back as expected.
A temporary solution to a (hopefully) temporary situation? What da ya think?
I'll bet even money that Orosco has 1 inning left in him.
If for whatever reason we felt like dropping 9 guys from the 40-man roster come September and treated Closing Day like an all-star game, here's the pitching order I'd like to see: Seaver, Koos, Doc, Coney, Leiter, Darling, Jones, McDowell–and then for the 9th inning, lay a #45 jersey on the mound and let it sit there. When the umpires tell us to knock it off, send in John Franco to put the #45 jersey on, let him give up a homer, and yank him for Orosco.
Ah well, I suppose the best we can hope for is that one day there will be virtual reality machines that let us see that.
On that Heilman 1-hitter, I was at that game. It's one of my funniest Shea memories, as in the 7th or 8th inning some guy a few rows in front of me said, “Aaron Heilman's throwing a one-hitter? Am I drunk?!”
Since 51 is the new 40 anyway, and given that he was acquired for the other pitcher to close out a Mets world championship, Orosco's the perfect choice.
truly, it matters less to me who starts the last game at shea than who finishes it. orosco would be an inspired choice — for the last out.
If that's the case, let's bring Dave Kingman back to bat cleanup that day, maybe he can hit one more bomb for old times sake.
I think the only way Kong could still go deep is if he were facing someone as old as Orosco.
Something tells me he wouldn't have too much trouble with Heilman, either.
If the ceremonial first pitch isn't Seaver to Piazza, something is horribly wrong.
In a dream world, the ceremonial first pitch could continue around the infield–Seaver to Piazza to Keith to Fonzie to Reyes to Wright.
I should stop thinking about awesome ways to celebrate closing day… I'm only gearing up for disappointment. Does anyone remember the great celebration they had for County Stadium in Milwaukee?
More on that Milwaukee celebration here. Envisioning a Mets version of this would include me sobbing in Row Q of the Upper Deck.
Who knew the last hit for the Brewers in County Stadium was a triple by Raul Casanova?!
Wow.
One can only hope we can approximate that. As someone who gets blubbery just thinking about the last game, I can only imagine the waterworks if we pull off something like this.
Because of the unfortunate accident that took the lives of three construction workers when they were trying to install the Miller Park roof in 1999, County Stadium got a one-year reprieve. So the night that was going to be the final one was October 3, 1999, which you'll recognize, of course, as the date of the Melvin Mora Game. You may recall the Reds were in Milwaukee that day and waited out a seven-something-hour rain delay to play the Brewers because the one-game playoff and whether it would take place hung in the balance. As you know, the Reds beat the Brewers (you know that because we were in Cincinnati the next night). You might even remember, since ESPN showed it, that there were like twelve people in the stands. But the paid attendance was approximately 54,000, because it was supposed to be County Stadium's final game.
Wonder what the long-term forecast for September 28 is.
I've gotta say, I'm impressed with your sympathy for Aaron Heilman, and as much as I'd like to get behind your idea, I just can't. I remember his one-hitter because I was listening to it on the radio going back to DC after being shut out of an Orioles game. How odd.
Anyway, I also remember what happened after that one-hitter: Aaron got lit the hell up by the same Marlins squad he had just dominated. And even though there were a couple decent starts thrown in there afterwards, the team decided they needed him as a reliever, and when it worked and they decided to keep going with it, he moped and pouted and complained publicly.
If he was a guy with a pedigree, if he were the Manny Ramirez of starting pitching, I could forgive it. But he wasn't and isn't. He was Aaron Heilman, first round disappointment, a guy closer to his no-stuff 5.50 ERA days than his current doesn't-know-where-he's-throwing-it-stuff 5.50 ERA days.
I wanted to be wrong about Heilman after his relief duty started out so strong, but his redemption as a Met is just about hopeless. Long tenure or not, we should probably just face the fact that Aaron Heilman is not a good pitcher.
Good taste in bullpen entrance music though.
Yeah, London Calling, Don't Fear the Reaper, Seven Nation Army. He knows how to pick 'em for a guy who's not a closer.
I remember it was snow, not rain.
You're right. I was still seeing stars from Mora crossing home plate and couldn't tell the difference.